As the use of a mobile communication terminal and a navigation terminal is generalized, various applications and equipments for Location-Based Services (LBS) are being developed and their demands are continuously increasing.
In a mobile communication terminal using a mobile communication network, its own location can be detected using cell information of a base station for performing communication at present. In order to detect a location using information of a cell where the mobile communication terminal is located as described above, the mobile communication terminal sets up Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and cell Identifiers (IDs) of a mobile communication system.
FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart for an operation for setting PLMN and cell IDs in a conventional Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) mobile communication system. A user identification card such as a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) is inserted into a mobile communication terminal in step 205. Then, in step 210, it is determined whether a PLMN registered according to the user identification card exists. When no registered PLMN exists as the determination result of step 210, the operation proceeds to step 215 to attempt to select and register another PLMN of a list. Then, in step 220, it is determined whether the registration of the other PLMN of the list succeeds. When the registration of the other PLMN of the list fails, registration is attempted using all other PLMNs of the list. When the registration of all the other PLMNs of the list fails in step 220, the operation proceeds to step 225 to search for a possible PLMN and enter a standby state. When a preset specific situation occurs, the operation proceeds to step 210 to re-attempt to register a PLMN.
When the PLMN registration succeeds in step 210 or 220, the operation proceeds to step 230 to determine whether cell information exists. When the cell information exists in step 230, the operation proceeds to step 245 to select a cell whose information is stored and then proceeds to step 250 to set up the selected cell.
When the cell information does not exist in step 230, the operation proceeds to step 235 to perform a cell initialization process and then proceeds to step 240 to determine whether a selectable cell exists. When the selectable cell exists, the operation proceeds to step 250 to select and set up the cell. When the selectable cell does not exist in step 240, the operation is in the standby state.
By performing the above-described operation, the mobile communication terminal may perform communication by setting up a PLMN and a cell and detect its own location using registered PLMN and cell information. Conventionally, the mobile communication terminal uses PLMN and cell IDs transmitted on a Broadcasting Channel (BCCH) of a base station as information to be stored or utilized to detect its own location. Accordingly, the mobile communication terminal may detect rough location information using the cell information. In this location detection method, location detection is possible in a range of about 3 Kilometers (Km) in the case of a cell of a city center area and in a wider range in the case of a cell of an outer area.
A method for detecting a location using cell information of the mobile communication network has a problem in that only rough location information may be detected since a range of the detected location information is wide. Thus, a location detection method capable of acquiring an exact location detection result of a more precise range is needed.